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problem with voyager 205 bt router

shell38

Posted 23 January 2007 - 02:13 PM

shell38

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119 posts

Hi

I am hoping that some one out there can help me pleaseeeeeeee. My father who is connected throught broadband with btyahoo. He has a the voyager 205 router and just can not connect. He has had this service for about a year now, but has only had about 4 months use of the service. Many Many calls to the BT help desk (which is now so i am informed is in India) and no help. I went round there several months ago and did the normal stuff like taking out all the plugs checkin and filters, even by passing and plugging it, into the main socket the dsl light still flashes. Have checked and replaced the micro filters. I did see that he had norton anti virus on his pc and to my own experience with this i new that sometimes this anti virus is more hassel than good, so i removed it from the computer and installed AGV anti virus. This seemed to help and we had connection BRILLIANT!!! i went away very happy. Then it went wrong again bout 3 weeks later. Now this time no matter what i did nothing would happen.!!!

My dad is very ill and he relies on his pc just keeping in contact with family friends and watching his beloved football team etc.

So i hit on the idea of borrowing my friends Home hub router which is also a wireless router and this worked. YIPPEE prob solved its the router, which it what i was fearing all along...... Of course my friend needed her modem back. But another friend of mine had the Voyager 100 that was no longer needed, so i thought i would try to instal this, but to no avial. It would not work.... ahhhhhhh I have in the mean time been on to bt help line several times during all of this and they are now sending out a voyager 205 replacement...... groans did not want another of these......but why should my father pay another £60 to bt when he can go to pc world and give them money.

Now although i have told bt that it is the router 205 that is faulty, this being because the home hub worked. I hit on another idea...... why not let my friend who has the home hub try my fathers voyager....... but here is the snag it worked ....... OMG is there no end to this. Why wont it work on my fathers yet her home hub works fine. So although they are awaiting a new voyager 205 i now fear when it gets here that its not going to work.

Thats why i am asking for any help that anyone on here may have. My father wants to go to buy a Belkin Adsl router from pc world but i do not want him to waste his money if i can sort this out, or if once buying it that wont work........ so please please im at my wits end all my own resources and searches on this matter have now dried up..... im desperate as my father has had a stroke and stress can casuse another one easily and he is so down...... i just want to b able to see him smile again.

many thanx
shell

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Neil Jones

Posted 23 January 2007 - 05:42 PM

Neil Jones

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Two things first: Do not buy Belkin, the quality of the products has really gone downhill in the last couple of years and you end up paying extra money for the name but not the quality. Also do not go to PC World as they will sell you a bunch of stuff that you do not need and may already have.

The DSL flashing light is an indication that the router cannot talk to the exchange, therefore the first approach (as you've tried) is to replace the filters. Failing this, one needs to simplify the wiring setup in the home as its perfectly possible that one intermittent faulty extension can screw up broadband on another extension on the same line.

Do this by unscrewing the bottom half off the bottom of the BT Master Socket. Pull this out carefully, being careful not to pull out the wires that are part of the extension. This will expose the hidden "test" socket. When the bottom half is away from the socket, all the extensions are off. Therefore one can plug a filter and the router into the test socket. If the router then stops flashing at you, do a few power cycles on it to see if its stable.

shell38

Posted 24 January 2007 - 04:21 AM

shell38

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119 posts

Hi

Thanx for giving me the web sites, infact i did come across this site last night, but alot of the links are not working. Now im not computer dumb but again im not very computer literatate. Infact i have learnt alot from this site.

Trouble is i am not very good with the complicated things, if its writen down in easy english i can follow it and im a pretty quick learner.

When you talk about the master socket i take it u mean the 2 little screws. I have read about this and when i do this do i use a filter one at a time to check see if this works. Do i just need to plug the modem direct into the socket (ie not into the pc at all) the reason i say this is that my father is using his pc up stairs and via an extention socket in the bedroom. (which as i said untill oct of last year worked fine) if i just need to take the modem downstairs and try it in the test socket, shall i try it with out a filter first then try all the filters he has in the house. He has no sky connected to his phone socket and no phone is connected to the socket he is tryin to use for his pc internet connection.

Now for the IP address. I understand what this is, but how do i no if he has a static or automatic. i have done a quick check on mine and it is i think an automatic ip connection.

Did this by going to control pannel network connections local area connections under the general tab clicked on properties click on TCP/ip properties and it says obtain an ip automatically. So take it this is a new ip address everytime i either turn pc on or have to reboot pc for any reason. (as said i have done this on my pc not my fathers.) My question is does it mattic if its a static ir atutomatic and i am not sure how really to change this if it does.

Bt also keep asking to turn off firewall i am not to happy about doing this as it will open my fathers computer to all sorts of problems and and i persume the only firewall i think he is using is from windows xp. I have how ever turned off the agv while i tried to install the modem and then putting it back on as soon as it is installed.

You mention that belkin is not very good, i must admit i find that hard to believe as i run a beklin wireless system here with my ntl connection and i connected all of my computers installing the wireless cards all myself and getting 4 computers up and running first time. I also use the belkin blue tooth adap and not had any probs and alot of my friends use belkin and you are the first that has said that there is a prob. But wld buying a adsl wireless router (although my father has no other pc or is has no wireless network card in his pc) but i am only saying this as the bt home hub worked ok on his pc with no other alterations to his pc.

Many thanx for taking the trouble of helping and reading this looking forward to a reply

Neil Jones

Posted 24 January 2007 - 05:08 PM

Neil Jones

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The BT Master Socket is the be all and end all of all your telephone connections in the house. Up to this point and back where it goes out of the house to the telephone pole BT are responsible for the line, everything after it inside the house is your responsibility. Therefore it is in your best interest to isolate all the wiring on your side of the Master Socket and the easiest way to do this is to take the bottom of the Master Socket off.

You don't need the computer to test a router, you just need the router (and its power pack). With the test socket underneath your BT Master Socket, you don't even need a filter, a standard modem cable will work on the test socket as there's nothing needed to filter out.

The idea is to see if the router stops flashing at you when its the only thing plugged into the line, hence why taking the bottom of the plate off disconnects your extension. If the router continues to flash at you when its the only device on the line (and not going through a filter), it indicates one of three things:

1) Interference on the line from somewhere or intermittent line fault on BT's side of the Master Socket. Can be caused by older wiring, lights going on and off (electrical interference) or other electrical devices coming on, going off.
2) The modem cable is damaged, duff or faulty.
3) The router is either temperamental, faulty or its been configured with the wrong BT username and password, but this shouldn't stop it being able to "sync" with the exchange if nothing else.

If the router stops flashing at you when its the only device on the line, then it points to an internal wiring issue. The three most common problems are faulty filters, filers that are missing from extensions (you need one filter on every socket with a telephone plugged into it) and extension wiring that's become faulty.

shell38

Posted 29 January 2007 - 02:35 PM

shell38

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119 posts

Hi

Well i went round my dad house. But unfortunatly his bt socket must be very old as it does not have a master socket behind it wen u unscrew the 2 screws it takes the whole facial panel off attached behind are lots of wires. But no test socket. This is the main socket in the house. But i did try pluging it into the main socket and it flashed for a while then stayed on but letf it like it and it then flashed. I checked all the the filters and they all were ok. I reconected to the pc and it actually connected, but 5 mins later it disconected then it connectd and it went on like this. Some times it does not flash for an hour other times its every 5 mins of so it starts to flash.

Bt are now gonna send out (so they say the voyager 2110 i think it is. It is meant to be here by wed, but we live in hope, as this is the 3rd one that has meant to be on its way to us and the other 2 never got here.

Neil Jones

Posted 29 January 2007 - 04:59 PM

Neil Jones

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All modern BT sockets are based on the NTE5 face panel which was introduced by BT in 1986. BT replace existing panels with the NTE5 on a rolling basis.

You may well have a intermittent line fault, in which case phone BT up.
Or alternatively there is some interference from somewhere, or a fault with the extension.
How many telephone devices are running on your line? Each device adds one REN, and the official BT figure is four REN, therefore anything over that is not officially supported and may generate issues.

shell38

Posted 30 January 2007 - 04:52 AM

shell38

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119 posts

Hi

Well he has the main phone in the main socket. Then he has two other phones but they are cordless phones so only one of them is plugged into the phone line. He did have his sky plugged in but he has since taken this out as BT recommend this. He says that BT checked his line and there was no fault but im still not so sure. Cld it be that because his master socket is not the new one that this cld be the problem. Where he has his pc in the phone extention there are no other things connected to this, ie another phone.

Neil Jones

Posted 30 January 2007 - 04:58 PM

To repeat, everything that transmits data needs to be on the phone side of the filter on all in-use extensions. This list includes telephones (the cordless base or standalone telephone), fax machines, Sky Digiboxes, PC modems, "Home Help" alarm systems, burglar alarms, automated diallers, telephone ringer enhancers...

I'm beginning to suspect there's either an issue with the provider so far as your father's account is concerned, or there's an issue with that master socket which you can't really tamper with as it's a breach of your contract with BT in order to have a line in the first place.

Alternatively, do a deal with a friend to swap your routers. Since yours works on theirs and their router works on your father's line, this is a more economical solution.

pip22

Posted 31 January 2007 - 03:20 AM

pip22

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Hi Shell

Sorry to hear of your sad saga but not surprised. I too was given a Voyager 205 by BT last year. The frustration of the DSL light flashing suddenly after being fine for 10 minutes was driving me insane. Anyhow, a friend of mine had her Bt brodband service disconnected (she only used hers ocasionally) and she gave me her 205 router as a spare.

next`time my DSL light started flashing I swapped it for the spare, and lo and behold it worked --- for 20 minutes --- then it started flashing too.
So I put my original one back and guess what? -- it was working again!
The problem?--- these routers are too small and cramped inside and get too hot in my opinion. And when they do they lose the DSL connection. I had to turn it off between sessions to let it cool down so it would work for 20-30 minutes when I cam back to use it.

Although the 205 was free I could not live with that frustration. I bought myself a SpeedTouch router which is automatically compatible with BT ADSL. From day one I can honestly say it hasn't missed a beat and that's despite the fact that I never turn it off --- it is barely warm all the time compared to the 205 being quite hot.

I am almost certain you need to do the same as I have done -- buy your own router. A bigger one. I can't promise that will eliminate all your problems but it will eliminate a very relevant one which I have proved to be true.

shell38

Posted 01 February 2007 - 10:00 AM

shell38

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Topic Starter

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119 posts

Hi

Many thanx for all your advice. The update is that now bt have given my father a 210 voyager alhough this is suppossed to be an update version its quite small. I have yet to install this. But i want to wipe out all the other modems i have tried. which are the BT voyage 205 (my dad) the Bt home hub and the voyager 100 but when i go to add remove programs it is not showing in this. So was wondering if i go to the network connections and deleted all in there that would do the job. But i feel that maybe if i try to install another router it will just conflict with all the others.

The reson im saying this is when i installed the last one (which did not work either ) the voyager 100 it came up with a new box which now will not go away asking which service he wants to use, off my head there was i think bt broad band and BOW and i think dial up. This never came up before. Also wen this box comes up so does the original box which is a large box with you are connecting to bt yahoo. I hope someone understands all this...... I have told my father if i was him i wld of told bt where to poke there broadband and gone with someone else. I myself and using ntl although have heard bad things about them i have had no problem and of course u dont need the bt phone line.

The other option he was thinking of was if he does change is skybroadband, but this is pretty new and i have not heard any reviews on this yet..

As for buying his own wireless adsl router i think that might be the best option. Im aftraid can not swop with my firend as of course her router is better than my fathers being wireless so that is not somthing we can do although im sure my father would of been very happy with that idea........ He is now getting so upset that all he does is cry when i talk about it. As for BT well im totally disgusted with the way they treat there custmoers. My parents have been loyal customers with them for over 50yrs...... sorry bout the winge just wanted to get it off my chest lol.....

Once again thanx
shell
Ps will let you know how it goes and if anyone has any reviews on the voyager 210 and sky broadband would like to hear them......

warriorscot

Posted 01 February 2007 - 11:27 AM

warriorscot

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The BT service is pretty good, i just upgraded to their new Total service that came with a free home hub which im loathe to use because ive got a perfectly good belkin router that works great but you need a home hub(BT are good but sometimes they do stupid things). The 205s just suck but they have been around for a while back when they had them made routers were expensive and thankfully there newer stuff is better apparently i hope the home hub.

My old 205 was a fire hazard and the best way to fix them in my opinion is to bin them, the guys at the end of the chat help service were very knowledgeable however you can only do so much with crappy hardware. The BT service is the best one for me because they don't traffic shape and have a free news server for there users which allot don't.

shell38

Posted 05 February 2007 - 02:20 PM

shell38

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119 posts

Hi

Well surprise surprise i got i working but for only to keep cutting off, its driving me nuts so now think finally my dad is thinking bout changing to NTL at least it will keep away from the phone line which i still think is at fault.

But feel free to throw any suggestions apart from throwing it out the window cos i have already thought of that one lol